emmaleth's Profile

Oh where to start... At auction a thing is only worth what TWO people are willing to fight it out over. Craigslist is much more hassle but if you live in a good area and you can wait for the right person to come along you'll get more for them.

Our appraiser ONLY does appraisals for people who are interested in selling through us, and can only tell you how much they might sell for at auction, which is very different than "replacement value" (for insurance purposes), and very different from a consignment shop's price tag (they can wait for the right person). The non-auction appraisers we recommend to people charge A LOT.

You can also check ebay and look for chairs that actually have bids on them (I can ask for $100 for a peanut but I'm not going to get it). A pair is going to sell for more than double the price of a single chair, because there is added value in having more than one, and less than half what someone would pay for 4... I could go on forever about all this (especially how buying new furniture is like buying a new car... just don't do it).

If you can put them to use and they have some sentimental value (as part of the story of your family and your evolution in tastes) they are probably worth 100-400% more to you than someone else will actually be willing to pay for them, and therefore should just stay right where they are. In the end, stuff is just stuff and any value we place on it is all in our heads anyway.

So get them covered with something beautiful or buy a couple throw pillows to distract from the color, and enjoy telling your guests the tale of the loathed chairs you grew to love.

You have an outlet built in, so try a small lamp on the mantle AND for a touch of girly, string up some (preferably diy-ed) xmas lights: http://www.hayseedhomemakin.com/2011/11/firefly-christmas-lights.html or http://green.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/08/wine_bottle_diy_ideas.php

Glass does wonders for reflecting light, if not literally brightening anything. I agree with the suggestion to prop light colored art on the mantle, definitely in frames with glass (I'd probably layer black and white photos myself but soft colored artwork would be less "masculine"). But nothing else - might as well own it and make it a clutter-free focal point.

Not sure what's behind the doors but if you have somewhere to stash them you could consider taking them off the hinges (don't lose the pins!) and hanging gauzy curtains or a quirky shower curtain or something fun - if anything.

I always wonder what people end up doing after all the suggestions they get. I vote for an occasional update roundup!

Hooray makeovers! Either:

Medium grey (a little darker than the roof and make sure it matches as far as warm/cool) or

Bold! Since we don't have too much of a sense of your personal style, go to your closet and pick your absolute favorite colored shirt/pants/accessory/whatever and then pick out some swatches in the same neighborhood and weed them out based on how they look against the roof. For me this would probably end up a very saturated turquoise/aqua/cyan, but this is your house we're talking about. If you swoon every time you come home then you won't mind if your neighbors hate it! (Or you can pick a few colors, ask -and take- their opinions into consideration, and everyone's happy)